Larry English saw the run play going wide. So he strung out Cardinals speedster Patrick Peterson, ran to the correct spot and flung Peterson to the ground. No English-to-football translation needed. Just a read, a chase and, bam, ballcarrier down.

There was another flash two weeks earlier in the preseason opener. English fired off the line, sustained a low thrust, powered into the backfield and flushed Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson.

Do the eyes deceive? Has Larry English, 27, found spring to his step?

Amid his response, the outside linebacker pointed to the outer edge of his left foot.

"It's strong now," he said.

English being whole for the first time in a long time -- at least since 2010 training camp, when he suffered the first of two foot fractures -- is a starting point going into the season opener Monday.

Destination unknown. But the outer foot bone is holding up when he "bends" the edge, as a pass-rush sometimes must when cornering against the giant tackles.

It's the same bone that required two surgical screws in 2010 and another one in March 2011.

It's the same foot that still limited him, English said when asked, the last two seasons.

English said he and other edge rushers place extreme demands on the edges of their feet, because running upright makes them easy targets.

For all of his football life, "that's where I put a lot of weight," he said.

Waylaid by the fractures, whipsawed later by the rehab-and-rust cycle, English has never really gotten going for the Chargers. The 6-foot-2 defender looked overweight in 2011, weighing over 260. He's now 253.

The 2009 first-round draft pick's career ledger shows only four starts. No. 5 likely won't come in the season opener.

But English was in the nickel and dime packages throughout the preseason, and figures to line up at left and right outside linebacker against the Texans. The last time his foot and football fitness were OK, he had 23 tackles as a rookie -- or four more than his total for 20010-12.

Defensive coordinator John Pagano, when asked Thursday for an English update, rapped the wooden lectern for good luck.

"As long as Larry stays healthy -- healthy with his body, healthy mind -- it gives Larry the opportunity to go out there and do the things that he needs to do," Pagano said. "We've been very fortunate to this point right now. He's playing fast. He's getting reps."

A year ago the Chargers carried an extra outside linebacker. English, coming off two lost seasons, was the bottom man in a five-man rotation.

"It was nearly impossible to get everybody the amount of reps they want and deserve," said Jarret Johnson, the starting strongside linebacker.

Outside linebackers Shaun Phillips and Antwan Barnes left the Chargers as free agents last offseason, creating opportunity for English. The ACL tear suffered by Melvin Ingram in May led to the signing of Dwight Freeney, an edge rusher who is more suited to being an end than a linebacker. English, for his part, fended off a push this summer from Thomas Keiser, a third-year player who had four sacks with Carolina in 2011.

Johnson described English's preseason as phenomenal.

"I think Larry's in a position to shock a lot of people," he said. "When Larry's healthy, he's as explosive and powerful a player as I've ever been around. He shows you ,when he's in good form, why he was a first-round pick.